king. In their palatial imprisonment, their estates were left unattended and
their power base was out of reach.
Louis’ Superintendent of Finance—his tax collector—was Nicolas Fouquet,
who in 1657, began to construct a grand and beautiful chateau, Vaux le
Vicomte, designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, here seen from across
the formal garden (1657–1661). The gardens were laid out by André Le
Nôtre; the decoration inside was done by Charles Lebrun. When the chateau
was completed in 1661, Fouquet, proudly and unwisely, invited the king
and his entourage to a grand housewarming. The party impressed the king
greatly—too greatly. Curious about the ¿ nancing of such a structure, Louis
investigated. Finding evidence that Fouquet had misappropriated tax monies,
Louis ordered the arrest and exile of Fouquet. He also reassigned the team
that had produced the chateau to Versailles, and in 1661, construction of the
new palace was begun. We see a bust depicting Louis XIV (1665), sculptured
by Bernini. Louis is depicted as a powerful monarch. The king had invited
Bernini to France to complete the design of the Louvre Palace in Paris.
His Italian architectural style, in particular the À at roof so unsuited to the
northern climate, was in striking contrast to the pavilion style and peaked
roofs of French architecture. The idealized features of the bust were intended
to emphasize Louis’s grandeur and superiority.
We now turn to the layout and exterior views of Versailles. Our ¿ rst example
is an engraving of the layout of Versailles created by François Blondel in
the 17th century. The orientation is completely axial, leading from the main
approach road, through the Court of Honor, through the entrance and the
king’s bedroom (directly behind the Hall of Mirrors), and on into the garden
to the Fountain of Latona, the Fountain of Apollo, through a canal to the
very end of the park.
Our next example shows a perspective view of the garden and chateau of
Versailles in a painting by Pierre Patel (1605–1676). The emphasis, again,
is on the unyielding center axis; the viewer gets the sense of looking at an
entire world. The king’s bedroom, as mentioned, was on the center of the
axis, since the Sun was believed to be the center of the universe. Rooms
were lined up, one after another, in each of the wings, and all the doors were